Hospitals' death rates from heart attacks fell

Heart-attack death rates have dropped in U.S. hospitals, according to an analysis of Medicare data released today.

Death rates at 4,569 hospitals that treat Medicare patients who suffer heart attacks fell by almost half a percentage point, from a national average of 16.6 percent last year to 16.2 percent.

Death rates for most hospitals ranged from about 14.5 percent to 17.9 percent.

Hospitals all along the spectrum, including those with the lowest and highest death rates, achieved similar declines, the data show.

Ninety-five U.S. hospitals had death rates lower than the national rate of 16.2 percent; 45 had death rates that topped it.

The new hospital report card comes seven years into an effort by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to spur improvement by publicly reporting how consistently hospitals provide recommended treatments to patients.

Three years ago, the agency added heart-attack and heart-failure mortality. The agency now also reports pneumonia death rates and 30-day readmission rates for all three conditions.

CMS officials say they don't have enough data yet to credit the decline in heart-attack mortality to public reporting.